If you follow me on Instagram (and if you don’t…what are you waiting for?) or if you’ve read this post, then you’ve probably heard me talk about my new morning routine. I’ve never been a morning person. Ever. I can sleep through the light being turned on, the radio blasting, I can fall back asleep if I get up and turn off the alarm, shoot, I can fall back asleep after walking the dog. I despise mornings. I’ll do anything to avoid mornings. It had gotten so bad that I’d literally sleep until the last possible second and then run around like a crazy person to get out of the house.
Towards the end of the year, I was searching for some personal growth books to add to my reading list and stumbled upon Hal Erod’s The Miracle Morning. About a third of the way through it, I knew I wanted to implement this practice as my “New Year’s Resolution.”
Hal believes that how you wake up each day and your morning routine dramatically affects your levels of success in every single area of your life. What you do each day will determine what you become, and who you’re becoming will always determine the quality and direction of your life. What really hit home was the idea that hitting the snooze button and resisting the inevitable act of waking up, basically signals to the universe that we’d rather lie there in our beds unconscious than consciously and actively live and create the lives we say we want.
“Your entire life changes the day that you decide you will no longer accept mediocrity for yourself. When you realize that today is the most important day of your life. When you decide that now matters more than any other time because it is who you are becoming each day based on the decisions that you are making and the actions that you are taking that is determining who you are going to be for the rest of your life.”
There are so many ah-ha moments that I literally could talk for hours about this book.
Life S.A.V.E.R.S
Life S.A.V.E.R.S are those things that Hal believes we all should be doing every morning in order to create the life we want. None of these ideas are new in the least bit. But the idea of doing all of these first thing in the morning was a new concept to me. It’s true, if we push these things off to the end of the day, chances are, we won’t ever get to them.
So what exactly are these Life S.A.V.E.R.S?
- S (Silence): mediation, prayer, reflection, deep breathing, gratitude are each ways to start your day with “purposeful” silence
- A (Affirmations): think of these as mantras or positive statements that will help you figure out what you really want and then program your mind to believe it
- V (Visualization): the practice of seeking to generate positive results in your outer world by using your imagination to create mental pictures of specific behaviors and outcomes occurring in your life
- E (Exercise): this is an easy one – get your heart pumping for at least a couple of minutes every morning in order to boost your energy, enhance your health, improve self-confidence and emotional well-being, and enable yourself to think better and concentrate longer
- R (Reading): crucial to acquire the knowledge, ideas, and strategies you need to achieve success in any area of your life; the books you read as part of your Miracle Morning routine should be for personal growth or spiritual growth
- S (Scribing): or journaling, which allows you to get your thoughts out of your head and putting them in writing
How to Implement
In the book, Hal talks about giving yourself 30 days before your morning routine will feel like a habit. I can say, I’m about 2.5 months in and there are some days that are definitely more of a struggle than others. The past couple of weeks have definitely been tough to keep this routine up, but I feel good after I complete it and so I continue to get up (sometimes later than I’d like) and get it done!
My Morning Routine
My morning routine varies day to day, and really depends on how much time I have / what time I need to be out the door. I typically give myself between 60 and 90 minutes, if possible.
Wake Up
I typically wake up between 5:50 and 6:30. The first things I do are brush my teeth, splash my face with water, drink a glass of water, and make myself some coffee. The chances of me going back to sleep after all of that is slim.
Meditation
The “S” in S.A.V.E.R.S. for me is mediation. I use a guided meditation from the app Headspace. Each of the guided meditations in the free version of Headspace is 10 minutes long. I was actually surprised at how fast the 10 minutes actually goes by. Easy peasy.
Affirmations
The next thing I do is read my affirmations aloud. I have around 15 affirmations that I’ve added to my affirmations list that I gathered from Pinterest, instagram, and books I’ve read. In order to have my list in a handy place each morning, I’ve added my list in my bullet journal (more on that later).
Visualization
There are a ton of ways you can satisfy the “V” in S.A.V.E.R.S., I choose to create a vision board on Pinterest. For me, I like having an actual picture to associate with those things I want because I have a tough time imagining the same thing in my head day in and day out. Pinterest boards are great because you can add to them over time and really look at your board anytime you have internet access. A lot of people use a vision board app as well. When I get my act together, I’d like to try and see if I like it better.
Exercise
Exercise is probably the weakest part of my morning routine. If I give myself enough time, I will go for a walk in the mornings with my dog. Often times I end up just stretching or doing push-ups or something. Guh. Major fail! But I continue to work at it and hope that I can continue to increase the amount of time I have in the mornings to sufficiently accomplish all of my S.A.V.E.R.S.
Reading
At any given time I’m usually reading at least 2 personal growth / spiritual books. The amount of time I’ll spend on this step will vary on how much time I have. Sometimes, it may only be a couple of pages in the morning. If I haven’t been able to read at least a chapter, I usually will also pick this back up in the evening before bed.
Scribing
This is my absolute favorite part of my morning routine – journaling. At the same time I started The Miracle Morning, I also started bullet journaling. I was a little late to the bujo party, but let me tell you, it’s been just as life changing as my morning routine! I can keep track of anything and everything in my journal – habit tracking, gratitude journal, to-do lists, the list is really endless. I could go on and on (and plan to in future posts). I usually try to spend at list 15 minutes planning out my day in the morning and then re-visit my progress in the evenings before bed.
Benefits so Far
Hal’s entire practice really has changed my life in a short about of time. I found that I have more patience, seem to be happier, and are getting things accomplished. I also really like the future planning aspects of The Miracle Morning – from reciting my affirmations, to reviewing my vision board, to coming up with a list of goals, it’s helped me to focus more on what it is that I want.
If you are looking for a way to change your life, check out Hal’s book! I think you’ll be inspired!
What are some things in your morning routine?
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